On August 3 the commissioners finally received the anticipated permission to delete articles 11 and 12 from the Treaty of Amity and Commerce.5 Vergennes’ undersecretary drafted both a French and an American declaration to serve the purpose (documents I and II); Franklin then prepared an English translation of the latter (document III). For some reason, however, the formal exchange of declarations did not occur until November.6

III.

Declaration

[after September 1, 1778]

The most Christian King having been pleased to regard the Representation made to him by the general Congress of North America, relating to the 11th Article of the Treaty of Commerce signed the 6th of February in the present Year, and his Majesty having therefore consented that the said Article should be suppress’d, on condition that the 12th Article of the same Treaty be equally regarded as of none Effect. The abovesaid general Congress hath declared on their part, and do declare, that they consent to the Suppression of the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles of the abovementioned Treaty, and that their Intention is that these Articles be regarded as having never been comprised in the Treaty signed the 6th of February. In faith whereof, &c.

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

2. In the hand of Gérard de Rayneval. It carries a later notation that a copy was sent in June, 1780 to La Luzerne, the French minister in Philadelphia. In August of that year BF sent a copy, apparently no longer extant, to James Lovell: Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, IV, 27; II, 699.

Reference

Cite as

“Vergennes and the American Commissioners: An Exchange of Declarations, 1 September 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-27-02-0312. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 27, July 1 through October 31, 1778, ed. Claude A. Lopez. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988, pp. 330–332.]

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